Line #21 NotMeThisTime/ComicBooks


1	* ''ComicBook/{{Archie}}'':
2	** The titular teenager is known to be accident-prone, which causes Principal Weatherbee to grow increasingly paranoid when a series of accidents at school all turn out to ''not'' be caused by him, such as Miss Grundy getting hit by falling shelves after asking Archie to help her in the storeroom, and stands up for him since they were unsafe to begin with. Eventually Archie engineers an accident so Weatherbee can relax.
3	** In "Bubble Trouble", Mr. Weatherbee thinks Archie put bubbles in the school pool. Archie's friends immediately jump to the conclusion that Reggie framed him... until they remember Reggie has been out sick. The true culprit was the janitor who mistook chlorine for detergent and never meant to play a prank.
4	* ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'':
5	** "Recap/AsterixAndTheMagicCarpet": Cacofonix's singing is now so bad it causes rainstorms to occur, much to the annoyance of the rest of the village. On a trip to India to fix a drought, their flying carpet encounters a heavy storm, forcing Cacofonix to protest that this one has nothing to do with him.
6	** In "Recap/AsterixAndSon", the title character demands to know if the local Roman commander recognizes a baby left on Asterix' doorstep.
7	--->"I've recognized seventeen children waiting for me back in Rome, but I'm quite sure that one's not mine."
8	* ''ComicBook/AstroCity'':
9	** "Adventures In Other Worlds" plays this to eleven. When Astra Furst of the First Family goes missing, they hunt down all of their usual super-villain enemies, convinced that one of them has captured her. Each villain's latest scheme gets disrupted, even though none of them are guilty of kidnapping Astra... who, instead, has run away from home to experience elementary school (and learn how to play hopscotch).
10	** In "Things Past", the retired villainess Cutlass is the lead suspect in a brutal bank robbery that used her signature LaserBlade weapons. She insists she didn't do it, and hires Steeljack to find out who was really responsible. For added measure, when Steeljack asks if Cutlass really ''did'' do it and is setting him up to take the fall, she angrily reveals she already checked where he was while the robbery went down. Even if she ''was'' guilty, there's no possible way she could successfully frame ''him'' for it.
11	* ''ComicBook/TheAvengers:'' During Roger Sterns' run, the Enclave crash a plane carrying their latest experiment designed to help them take over the world into Jamaica Bay. As the Avengers are doing clean-up they're attacked by a mysterious thing, which they take to be the Enclave's experiment (since things in cocoons are their usual stock in trade). However, in the hospital they confess their experiment wasn't a cocoon (they've learned ''that'' lesson too often), but a bio-agent which was destroyed by the pollution in the bay. [[spoiler:The cocoon is actually a semi-comatose Jean Grey.]]
12	* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'':
13	** In ''ComicBook/ArkhamAsylumLivingHell'', Dr. Arkham cannot bring himself to admit a gaggle of demons tried to open a portal to Hell in the Asylum, being a FlatEarthAtheist. So instead he reasons the Scarecrow released fear gas in the vents and has him thrown in solitary for a month. Scarecrow sputters a BigWhat. Not that anyone believes him.
14	** ''ComicBook/Batman66'': In the very first story of the comic, the plot involves a cat-themed work of art and Catwoman is deemed a suspect because of that. [[spoiler:She's innocent but cannot resist temptation after the Riddler is defeated.]]
15	** One issue of the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' tie-in comic series saw the [[HumongousMecha Golem]] bonded to [[TheKidWithTheRemoteControl Willie Watt]] rampaging once more, with significant upgrades to boot. Terry thinks Willie is acting up remotely from juvenile hall again, but when he visits he learns Willie's been fitted with a PowerNullifier.
16	** A story in ''ComicBook/GothamCentral'' had someone killing teenagers dressed as Robin, but despite Batman's violent interrogations, none of the usual rogues turned out to have any involvement.
17	** ''Webcomic/LilGotham'': In an attempt to freeze the city during spring to preserve it, Mr. Freeze accidentally spills plant growth formula all over the wings of his airship. This ends up coating the city, and when all the ice melts Gotham is completely covered in plants. And poor Ivy had just gotten out of Arkham, too.
18	** Throughout the many times they've faced each other, ComicBook/TheJoker has made a point of telling Batman that if any crime Batman is trying to solve ''was'' done by him, he'd certainly let Batman know. He's claimed that while he's not above lying to Batman, he's not one to "deny credit" for his crimes.
19	*** The page image is provided by ''ComicBook/TheBraveAndTheBold'' (issue #191), where the Joker apparently kills the Penguin on live TV, only for the real Joker to contact Batman and explain it was an impostor. Batman also notices that everything being set up so far would be too complicated for the Joker's usual schemes. As it turns out, the Penguin faked his death so the Cardinal would attend his funeral, where he would hold him for ransom.
20	*** In ''ComicBook/BatmanHush'', after having seen his [[OldFriend old childhood friend]] "Tommy" being supposedly gunned down by The Joker, Bruce is [[UnstoppableRage chasing after him in a murderous rage]]. A part of his mind is confused that the Joker is [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness protesting his innocence]] (something he's [[CardCarryingVillain not exactly known for]]), but it's drowned out by the red rage.
21	---->'''Joker''': Stop me if you've heard this one before... I'm ''innocent''.
22	*** ''Joker: Devil's Advocate'': The Joker was actually innocent of the crime of placing Joker venom on lickable stamps. Turns out it was a disgruntled member of the Post Office who did it to frame the Joker, who killed his wife.
23	*** In ''ComicBook/BatmanTheBlackMirror'', Batman pursues a recently escaped Joker because he thinks Joker was responsible for attacking and poisoning Commissioner Gordon's ex-wife. After defeating him, however, and Batman tells him to stay away from the Gordons, Joker revealed that this time, he was completely innocent of attacking the Gordons. [[spoiler:It was actually James Gordon Jr. who did the deed]].
24	* In one issue of ''ComicBook/BirdsOfPrey'', Black Canary's old mentor was murdered while she visited him in Hong Kong, even though he was terminally ill and would have died soon anyway. She quickly assumed that the supervillainess Cheshire committed the crime due to their history of animosity; the means of the crime, poison, also happened to be Cheshire's specialty. After Black Canary tracked Cheshire down, attacked and captured her, she found out that Cheshire did ''not'' do it; rather, it was the deed of a corrupt US senator who arranged the murder specifically so it would point to Cheshire. The two of ''them'' were enemies and he hoped Canary would deal with Cheshire for him. [[spoiler: [[SubvertedTrope However, they eventually discover that it really was Cheshire after all]]. She [[FramingTheGuiltyParty made it look like she was being framed]] so that Canary would help her get back to the US as part of a GambitRoulette.]]
25	* ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica:'' One storyline has Steve learn from his ex Bernie Rostenthal that her sister has suddenly gone missing, like a lot of teenagers. Steve goes investigating and uncovers a plot by Mother Night to brainwash teenagers into hate mobs, busts it up and finds no trace of Bernie's sister. Once everything's over, it turns out there was no evil plot involved, and she's fine.
26	* In ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfDoctorStrange'', when Baron Mordo shows up at Strange's murder scene, Wong naturally assumes he's the killer. Instead, Mordo says he's upset that someone killed Strange when "[[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou he should have died at my hands, no other.]]" Mordo uses this later in the story to defend himself and the investigators are forced to admit he's innocent; as he himself points out, if Mordo had killed his greatest enemy, he'd be crowing about it to anyone who'd listen.
27	* In a number of ''ComicBook/{{Diabolik}}'' stories, some criminals decided to make their crimes appear the work of the titular thief, reasoning that once the police concludes it was Diabolik's job they would just add it to the list of crimes he's going to be executed for... [[DidntThinkThisThrough And completely forgetting this is bound to enrage Diabolik]] and have ''him'' come after them to prove it wasn't him by leaving their body for the police to find (never mind the fact [[SympatheticInspectorAntagonist inspector Ginko]] and [[HypercompetentSidekick his team]] can easily see through such ruses).
28	* In ''ComicBook/HouseOfM'' a mentally unstable Characters/ScarletWitch [[RealityWarper recreates reality]] so that now mutantkind dominates over humans, with [[Characters/MarvelComicsMagneto Magneto]] in charge. As this always was Magneto's ultimate goal, all the heroes assume Wanda did on behalf of her father. As it turns out, the mastermind behind it really was her brother Pietro a.k.a. Quicksilver. Magneto gets ''very'' pissed once he found out what Pietro did in his name -- mostly because the alternate reality involved his old friend, [[Characters/MarvelComicsProfessorX Charles Xavier]], being dead.
29	* In one early [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]] story in ''ComicBook/JourneyIntoMystery'', Merlin is wreaking havoc on Earth and Thor goes to see Loki, who is captive in Asgard but has repeatedly managed to cause mischief on Earth from there. Loki tells him that as much as he'd think it was hilarious to do what Merlin is doing, he isn't actually involved this time.
30	* In an issue of the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' spin-off comic, ComicBook/TheQuestion sets out to discover who was responsible for a bomb smuggled into the Watchtower. Lex Luthor is the lead suspect, but when confronted, Luthor points out that if the bomb had gone off as planned, the Justice League would never have known what hit them -- and when he destroys the Justice League, he'll do it in such a way that they'll know ''exactly'' what hit them.
31	* ''ComicBook/LaffALympics'': In the unpublished story "The Miniature Meet", a mad scientist who's upset at the University where he works because they'd rather finance sports than the science division develops a shrinking ray he uses on the Laff-a-Lympics athletes when they compete on campus grounds. Yogi initially thinks the Really Rottens are behind this, but realizes it's not the case when he sees Dread Baron among the shrunken victims. Dread Baron does like the idea.
32	* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'':
33	** ''ComicBook/MarvelKnightsSpiderMan'' kicks off with a story in which Aunt May is kidnapped. Spider-Man immediately confronts ComicBook/NormanOsborn, who's in prison, demanding he return her. Osborn says he had nothing to do with it, ''because he's in prison.'' Of course, being imprisoned (or even dead) has not stopped Osborn on other occasions. [[spoiler: And it turns out that he really was responsible.]]
34	** This happens to Spider-Man a '''lot''', apparently. In ''[[ComicBook/TheDeathOfCaptainAmerica Fallen Son: The Death of Captain America]]'', Peter visits Uncle Ben's grave and sees Rhino walking through the cemetery. He attacks, thinking he's up to something (despite Rhino pleading that he isn't here to fight), and their fight breaks a gravestone belonging to Rhino's mother... which was the only reason he was there in the first place. When he realizes this, Spider-Man attempts to apologize, but Rhino is, understandably, far too angry to listen.
35	** In the Spider-Man spin-off ''ComicBook/{{Jackpot}}'', the heroine, later accompanied by Spidey himself, beats up a minor villainess who was smuggling but really hadn't anything to do with what Jackpot wanted to know about. The snippy answer of the villainess was something along the lines of: "What? Do you think every villain in New York gets a daily update about every crime?!"
36	* ''ComicBook/MickeyMouseComicUniverse'':
37	** Similarly, there was a comic where a series of crimes is commited that seem to be the work of the Phantom Blot. Mickey goes to see him in jail, but the Blot tells him he's in jail and hasn't busted out, as the guards will testify, but he appreciates Mickey thinking of him.
38	** In another comic, Mickey and O'Hara are investigating some robberies when they run into the Blot walking down the street, prompting the latter to arrest him on the spot (with no evidence whatsoever). The Blot doesn't resist and firmly denies everything, which Mickey notices is not like him and thinks he may even be innocent. It turns out he did do it... however he's not actually the Phantom Blot but rather a magically summoned duplicate created by Magica [=DeSpell=].
39	** With the Blot it seems to be a recurring theme. Due to him wearing disguises anyway, it is easy for various copycats to use his identity and general style for a while. There are several variations on how is this resolved. At least some have the genuine Blot being the one to take down the imitators.
40	** Also, there's the problem that Phantom Blot that being in jail has not stopped him from committing crimes, like the time he had a ring that accelerated his subjective time (effectively making him go into BulletTime) that he would keep outside the window in case the police searched his cell, allowing him to break out, commit his crime and come back to his cell without anyone noticing.
41	** In "Fatal Distraction", Mickey keeps seeing Black Pete out in town and committing crimes even though he's supposedly in prison. Pete himself, when Mickey talks to him in the prison, acts quite convincingly as if it's not him, including the "I wish it ''was'' me" bit, but Mickey seems to exhaust all other possible options like it being a robot duplicate. [[spoiler: Turns out the whole thing with Pete is just arranged to distract him from the real crime, and while it really was Pete Mickey was seeing, Pete and the prison warden have both been hypnotised by... yep, the Phantom Blot.]]
42	* In ''ComicBook/StarWarsLegacy'', the Yuuzhan Vong were accused of using the terraforming to devastate the already damaged planets' ecosystems even further by causing deformities in the terraforming process, an accusation that stemmed from their role in the Yuuzhan Vong conflict long ago. The Yuuzhan Vong protested that they were in fact innocent and that they did not cause the deformities, at least not deliberately, and the Jedi believed them. Turns out they really were innocent: the One Sith sabotaged the terraforming project with the help of a Yuuzhan Vong plant of theirs who wanted revenge for their defeat.
43	* ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'' story arc ''ComicBook/DayOfTheDollmaker'': When Catherine Grant finds out someone has been kidnapping children and sending her killer dolls after each kidnapping, she believes it must be Toyman's work. When she and ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} go and interrogate Toyman, though, the man has no idea of what Catherine is talking about: he would never hurt kids, he has no interest in taunting Miss Grant, and he has been locked up in Arkham for over a year.
44	* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'':
45	** "ComicBook/LuthorUnleashed": Luthor frowns when he realizes that one of his overzealous androids has activated one of his super-weapons without his authorization or knowledge, since Superman will recognize his handiwork (not a big feat since it is literally signed) and quickly come to the wrong but understandable conclusion that Lex is behind that attack.
46	** Just before ''ComicBook/OurWorldsAtWar'', Superman is tussling with General Zod in the upper atmosphere, when a huge SOMETHING flies past Superman, towards the Earth:
47	--->'''Superman:''' You missed!\
48	'''Zod:''' ... That wasn't mine.\
49	'''Superman:''' I'm not falling for--\
50	'''Zod:''' No, listen, to me. That wasn't mine. (''they stare at each other'') Perhaps this is best settled later?
51	** ''Dead Again!'': When a Superman corpse shows up and seems to suggest that this was the real Superman still dead from his fight with Doomsday and the current hero is only [[TomatoInTheMirror a fake who thinks he's the real Superman]], the Man of Steel begins searching throughout his Rogues Gallery, including Luthor, Mxyzptlk, Brainiac, and Darkseid, to see who could be behind the hoax, with each of his enemies revealing they have an alibi for what's happened. It's eventually revealed that [[spoiler:Brainiac]] was only faking innocence and really was the mastermind of the whole thing.
52	** In ''ComicBook/SupermanTheWeddingAlbum'', Mxyzptlk shows up right before Lois and Clark's wedding. Clark confronts him and asks if he's responsible for his powers not returning after the events in ''ComicBook/FinalNight''. Mxy says that he's had nothing to do with that, nor does he know why they haven't come back. He also says he won't do anything to interfere with the wedding, [[ShipperOnDeck because he actually wanted Lois and Clark to get married in the first place.]]
53	* In ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'', Dream gets dumped by his most recent girlfriend. Afterwards, he goes to see his brother[=/=]sister Desire, who has a history of setting up and destroying relationships on a multi-universal scale. Desire bluntly tells him that they would love to take credit for Dream getting dumped, but they had nothing to do with the situation; this time it was all Dream's fault.
54	* In one of the children's book tie-ins of ''ComicBook/TheFlash'', the Weather Wizard is released to a halfway house on the same day a tornado rips through the city; naturally, everyone assumes he did it, but the Flash uses his science skills to deduce that the tornado began before he could have regained access to his weather control wand. [[spoiler:In the end, it's suggested that--as per the comics--he no longer needs the wand.]]
55	* In ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis2004'', none of the supervillains suspected of being involved in Sue Dibny's death had anything to do with it.
56	* Inverted with Grand Moff Trachta in ''Star Wars: Darth Vader and the Ghost Prison''. When Trachta is spotted by Vader and Tohm near the ailing Emperor Palpatine, they immediately accuse him of being involved in Gentis' coup against the Emperor. Trachta vehemently denies any involvement in the coup. In case anyone is wondering exactly how this qualifies as an inversion, ''Ghost Prison'' takes place chronology-wise a good 17 years before ''Star Wars Empire: Betrayal'', where Trachta definitely was involved in a MilitaryCoup, and in fact instigated that particular coup.
57	* Barry Allen/The Flash goes gunning for his nemesis Professor Zoom when he believes that Zoom was responsible for the ''ComicBook/{{Flashpoint}}'' timeline. [[spoiler:Professor Zoom was only indirectly responsible, when he killed Barry's mother via time travel. It was Barry preventing that murder [[NiceJobBreakingItHero that actually started Flashpoint]].]]
58	* ''ComicBook/TeenTitansGo'' has an issue titled "Bad Girls" where the Titans face several new teen villainesses claiming to be children of recurring Titans foes, including Joystick (supposedly Control Freak's daughter, even though Control Freak claims he never "even had a girlfriend" after interrogation), Marionette (Puppet King's), Mad Maud (Mad Mod's), Pink X (Red X's) and even Daughter Blood (Brother Blood's) until the story eventually reveals them to be Killer Moth's daughter Kitten posing as children of other villains to get her father's attention. A much later story has Robin facing Rose Wilson, daughter of his arch-nemesis Slade, with Robin's first reaction being that it's Kitten again. Alas, Rose Wilson turns out to be the ''real'' deal.
59	** When Madam Rouge impersonates Starfire and Blackfire's brother Wildfire, Star thinks Blackfire gave Rouge the information she needed to do it. Blackfire protests that she's innocent, claiming that she doesn't hold any ill will towards her brother and wouldn't involve him in her schemes, but Star disowns Blackfire anyway, because even if Blackfire is telling the truth, Star has no reason to believe her.
60	* ''ComicBook/TheTransformersWindblade'': Windblade believes Starscream has been sabotaging Metroplex's power, set up a bomb to kill her, and has been mining the living citybot for resources. While Starscream is guilty of the last crime, he justifies it by saying Metroplex is a big bot and can handle it, and instead accuses her of the sabotage and power failures, all in an attempt to undermine his rule. It turns out he was sincere in his belief that the attempt on her life was merely a maintenance problem caused by her, and there really is another force at play that's been behind Metroplex's problems.
61	* Marvel's one-shot all-humor issue ''The Fantastic Four Roast'' (February, 1982) has a mysterious figure out to do in the FF during the titular testimonial. Ben "The Thing" Grimm suspects [[OnlyOnePlausibleSuspect it's Doctor Doom]], who approaches the dais and bellows "'''''WRONG,''''' CAMEL BREATH..."
62	-->'''Dr. Doom:''' Dr. Doom, Dr. Doom, Dr. Doom. Why is it that everyone always assumes that Dr. Doom is the culprit responsible?
63	-->'''Human Torch:''' Well, it sure ain't Soupy Sales, tin head!
64	-->'''Dr. Doom:''' Bah. I see that some people will never change.
65	-->'''The Thing:''' (''thought balloon'') I change each mornin', Doomsie...how about you?
66	* ComicBook/ThePowerpuffGirls
67	** Similar to the TV episode "Telephonies," the story "Mojo's Day Off" (which was unpublished) dealt with calamities striking Townsville and the girls automatically suspect it's Mojo Jojo each time. Mojo is fatigued and is trying to relax, only for the girls to burst into his lair to accuse him of causing each calamity.
68	** "Meet The Micros" (issue #65) was the story that introduced the Micro-Puffs, tiny sprite-like avatars of the girls. Only instead of doing good, these girls are quite mischievous. After winning their friendship, the Micro-Puffs make the girls think that Mojo Jojo, Him and Fuzzy Lumpkins are committing crimes. It turns out they weren't, as the girls find out the hard way.
69	* ''ComicBook/WarlordOfMars'': One story arc involved the Green Martians suddenly becoming more violent than usual, placing the planet's newfound stability in peril. The [[SmugSnake scheming]] and [[AlwaysChaoticEvil treacherous]] [[LightIsNotGood White Martians]] are naturally the heroes' first suspects. However, after further investigation, it's revealed that the real culprits behind it are [[spoiler: [[BitchInSheepsClothing the Yellow Martians of Okara]], specifically the ones thought to be the heroes' allies]].
70	* One ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'' storyline had Mr. Hyde contact Matt Murdock and demand he defend him, as while Hyde is a known killer and ''was'' planning on killing the victim, someone else beat him to it.
71	* ''ComicBook/UltimateMarvel''
72	** ''ComicBook/UltimateFF''
73	*** Namor blames Victor Van Damme for trapping him inside a tube for study back in ''Ultimatum''. It wasn't really him. Similarly, Ben blames Van Damme for the actions that led to ''Ultimatum'', but that wasn't him either. It was Mary Storm ruling in his stead and with his armor, while he was still lost in the zombieverse.
74	*** Namora blames Sue, who can generate forcefields, for the toxic waste that was being dumped into her universe. It was the scientists in the dome.
75	** ''ComicBook/UltimateMarvelTeamUp'': A green monster is attacking the city? Then it's time to take Norman Osborne down again. Oh, wait, it's the Hulk...
76	* During ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'' tie-in to ''ComicBook/WarOfTheRealms'', Mephisto drops in on Phil Coulson during the invasion and Phil asks if he's behind everything. Mephisto casually tells him that this is all [[BigBad Malekith]].
77	* ''ComicBook/WonderWomanBlackAndGold'': Apollo shows he's not ultimately responsible for the temperatures rising on Earth, despite tweaking its orbit again. While he does move the planet back at Diana's command, he states the underlining problem is human-caused climate change.
78	* ''ComicBook/GastonLagaffe''
79	** In one episode, a loud and absolutely nerve-wracking sound screeches through the office building, and everyone immediately rushes to Gaston's office to demand that he stop. But he had nothing to do with it, and then participates in the search for the source. It turns out to be caused by Gaston's cat, who accidentally fell into a tuba and was clawing the instrument while trying to climb out.
80	** Another time, the redaction is working overtime when the power fails. Everyone immediately blames Gaston, but he was playing with his cat right next to Prunelle. The others remain skeptical, since they well know Gaston is entirely capable of causing city-wide blackouts. In the end, the actual cause is never revealed.
81	* ''ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2020:'' The Guardians assume, not unreasonably, that Doctor Doom staged the [[AbusivePrecursors Progenitor]] attack on Throneworld that precipitated his arrival, given ''someone'' tipped them off to the Kree-Skrull alliance, but Doom swears it wasn't him. Later events prove Doom is responsible for what happens next, but if the Progenitors were his work, he doesn't admit it. [[spoiler:Events in ''X-Men: Red'' in 2022 suggest Doom really may not have been responsible at all.]]
82	* In ''ComicBook/TheDefenders'', Nighthawk and his girlfriend Trish are hospitalized after someone rigs their car to explode. Everyone assumes that Nighthawk's former teammates in the Squadron Sinister must be responsible, so the Defenders go hunting for them to avenge their friend. In reality, the bomb was planted by Trish's EvilUncle, [[Characters/AntManEnemies Egghead]], who had fallen on hard times recently and wanted to make his niece suffer for not offering him any financial assistance.

Context NotMeThisTime / ComicBooks